Facebook users in Canada to get Amber Alerts

The federal government is turning to social media in a bid to find missing kids faster.

Public Safety Minister Stephen Blaney announced Monday morning that Facebook users across Canada will now receive Amber Alerts directly on their newsfeeds.

The partnership between Amber Alert and the social media giant is intended to get the urgent messages out to as many people as possible — similar to the messages that currently get dispatched on radio and television.

The move comes five months after the program was launched in the U.S., and is believed to be inspired by the case of Baby Victoria, the infant abducted last year from a hospital in Trois Rivieres, Que.

The federal government says the new system is being launched in major cities across Canada, excluding the territories, which do not take part in Amber Alert.